WawonaNews.com - November 2011

10/25/2011

A Year in Yosemite: A Sense of the World

"Indians" put the finishing touches on their ‘umuucha.

There were many reasons our family moved to Yosemite National Park three years ago. Prime among them was our daughter. She is a good student academically but she is also an ace fidgeter, a condition that does little to endear a child to a teacher. When we found Yosemite Park’s Wawona Elementary School, with its supremely gifted teachers and a curriculum that includes all the basics plus healthy doses of art, music, cooking, nature studies and even skiing, we jumped at the chance.

At the time, our daughter was in an excellent school in Los Angeles but her inability to sit still proved so relentless that we’d enrolled her in occupational therapy in an attempt to contain the urge. When we announced to her aunts and uncles (really friends but family nonetheless) that we were leaving for Yosemite there was a hue and cry about the dangers of taking our daughter out of occupational therapy, a fear that she would begin to slip backward. So I went to see her therapist and asked her what she thought. Her answer? “Nature is occupational therapy, 24/7.”

Last week our daughter took a two-day wilderness course at nearby Camp Wawona. Thirty children had gathered in the camp’s cafeteria the previous night to share a meal before experiencing life as if they were native people. The dinner scene was utter pandemonium. The noise level was deafening and the kids’ cumulative energy level was out-of-control. Finally, they gathered up their belongings and followed the counselors through the woods to an outdoor camp, complete with bark-covered huts (called ‘ummuuchas) where they would spend the night. It was dusk when the students set out and the camp had placed counselors in the trees to see if anyone would notice. Kids walked right beneath them without ever looking up. That was about to change.

After stowing their backpacks, the students gathered around the fire where they were divided into groups. Night was coming on, but that didn’t seem to affect what happened next as they spent the two hours practicing how to listen, see and feel, as if—like the Indians—their lives depended on the outcome.

Armed with their new-found knowledge, they played a game (the native peoples’ favorite way to teach their children) that brought all their senses into play. For over an hour in the pitch dark, they walked as they’d been taught—in the manner of foxes, cougars and weasels—struggling to keep their movements absolutely quiet as they attempted to make their way to the counselors without being seen or heard.

That’s when I recalled the words of my daughter’s occupational therapist. Because, while the students’ excitement level was still sky high, there was an internal quiet to their energy that was incredible to behold. They had calmed down. Absolute focus had stopped the fidgeting. Poise and grace replaced it… no occupational therapy needed. Being fully engaged with their senses and in tune with nature had made this miracle occur.

The friction of a bow and drill is used to create a hot ember.

Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps not, but when my family first stumbled upon the public schools in Yosemite National Park, I was reading Richard Louv’s Last Child in the Woods: Saving our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. Mr. Louv is deeply worried about the small amount of time given over to unstructured, outdoor play in America today and its effect on children. He goes so far as to see a direct link between what he calls kids’ nature-deficit and conditions like ADHD. Yet the students in our group are being raised in a rural, outdoor setting. What seems to be missing is the deep, profound focus our ancestors depended on for survival. As one of the counselor’s pointed out, today we literally focus on what is in front of us. Native peoples would have been aware of the world all around them; their view was more than peripheral, it was all but 360 degrees.

Hot ember, dry tinder and air produces ...

... fire.

Years ago I spent a decade traveling the world. Like all travelers, I love to hear amazing “survival” stories. One of my favorites is that of friends who were in the Peace Corps in Botswana. Seems their truck broke down in the middle of the Kalahari Desert. They had few supplies but, luckily, the local Bushman tribe took them in. The good news was they weren’t going to starve. The bad news was that help was on its way— once a month a truck came through bringing water to the Bushman enclave—but when it would arrive was anyone’s guess. And so they waited (learning to skin and prepare game in the process). Then one day, a woman who seemed as old as time, announced that the truck was coming “tomorrow at noon.” For the rest of the day and the following morning there was nothing, not even dust on the horizon to announce the truck’s arrival. Then, around noon, it rumbled in.

“How did she know?” my friends asked incredulously. “She felt the earth’s vibration,” came the answer. Before I watched nature work its magic on our kids, I could not imagine a world where one could feel the rumblings of a truck from hundreds of miles away. But now I know that being open to nature—with its sensory rich life lessons—can and does open up the world.

-- Jamie Simons/Photos by Jon Jay

In May 2009, while hiking in Yosemite National Park, long-time Los Angeles resident Jamie Simons turned to her husband and said, "I want to live here." Jamie and her family have since lived in the park. Check out all of her blog articles by clicking here.

Bishop Creek Prescribed Fire – Postponed

Ignition of Rail Creek, Segment A, 1,400 acres of the 5,224 acre Bishop Creek prescribed fire unit, scheduled for this week has been postponed. A trough of cooler, moist air brought higher than expected relative humidity to the area which kept fuels moist. A test burn conducted on Monday, October 24 revealed that fire would not progress or consume fuels in a manner sufficient to meet the project’s objectives of reducing fuels. The burn is has been postponed until more favorable conditions exist.Fire fighter resources will shift this week to burning hand-piles created during mechanical treatments (thinning) over the past few years. The piles are located in the following areas of the park:Tuolumne County: Aspen Valley RoadMariposa County: Merced Grove, Chinquapin, South Entrance Kiosk,Wawona Road between Bishop Creek and Mosquito Creek.Smoke may be visible from the pile burning operation. Please drive carefully in areas where smoke, fire fighters, and equipment may be along roadways.Smoke, which can affect health, is always a factor in the decision making process to conduct this and other prescribed fire projects. A smoke management plan for pile burning has been submitted to the Mariposa County Air Pollution Control District (APCD), and a burn permit has been issued. Tuolumne County, San Joaquin and Great Basin APCDs have been advised of this project.

Bishop Creek Prescribed Fire – To Begin October 24, 2011

The Rail Creek, Segment A, of the 5,224 acre Bishop Creek prescribed fire unit, is scheduled to begin Monday, October 24, 2011, dependent upon favorable weather and air quality. Segment A is 1,400 acres and one of five segments within the unit. It is estimated to take firefighters four to five days to complete this project.

The primary objective is Wildland Urban Interface Protection. The project will buffer the communities of Yosemite West, Wawona and El Portal, and the Glacier Point Historical District from unwanted wildfire by reducing an over accumulation of fuels. The start of the project will begin with a blackline firing operation at the top of the unit.

It will build off the recent 1,068 acre Avalanche Fire, other prescribed fires and mechanical thinning treatments in Yosemite’s suppression and wilderness fire management units. The Bishop Creek project is directly adjacent and east of the Wawona Road, and the Avalanche fire to the north. The unit is bisected by the east/west oriented Rail, Strawberry and Bishop Creek drainages with a primarily west facing aspect.

The vegetation consists of long needle ponderosa pine/mixed conifer on the lower slopes, and short needle white and red fir mixed conifer further upslope. Pockets of chinquapin, whitethorn, and manzanita and bear clover exist. There is an accumulation of other dead and down vegetation, including logs, limbs and other surface fuels.

Since 1930, there have been over 50 suppressed lightning ignitions in the footprint of the Bishop Creek Project. In 1981, there was a 2,100 acre prescribed fire. In 1997 a 100’ to 200’ wide mechanical thinning project have occurred along the Wawona Road (Hwy 41). There have been multiple prescribed fuel treatments near the community of Yosemite West (2005 and 2007). Between 1910 and 1926, the area was logged for prized Sugar Pine trees.

Most of the proposed project is within designated wilderness. In accordance with the wilderness Act of 1964, Minimum Impact Management Techniques will be employed to preserve the wilderness integrity. A resource advisor will be assigned to the project to advise on cultural and natural resources. The fall season is the preferred implementation period for this project. Fall benefits include fewer impacts to all wildlife, and more complete ground and surface fuel consumption and less resource damage due to post fire mop-up efforts. In all cases, mitigations will be taken to protect sensitive natural and cultural resources.

Smoke, which can affect health, is always a factor in the decision making process to conduct this and other prescribed fire projects. A smoke management plan has been submitted to the Mariposa County Air Pollution Control District (APCD), and a burn plan has been issued. The Tuolumne County, the San Joaquin and Great Basin APCDs have been advised of this project. Smoke monitors have been deployed in smoke sensitive areas.

10/13/2011

Year in Yosemite: Native Genius

After roasting our acorns, we extracted the seeds and ground them into a fine flour. This Valley Oak acorn is among the few that aren't bitter.

I spent the day yesterday leaching acorns and learning to make acorn mush. It's not what I usually serve to family and friends in our Yosemite home but I can't remember the last time cooking was so much fun. This is the time of year when traditionally, Miwok and other native tribes of the region would have been collecting enough acorns -- 1,000 to 2,000 pounds per family -- to keep them in food for a year. The Miwok would have spent two weeks filling massive baskets with acorns but we took the easy way out. We had a group of school kids collect one bag each from around their neighborhoods in Oakhurst, Mariposa, and Fresno and bring them to us to be leached.

Tonight these same kids will come to Yosemite National Park and make their way to a private camp, Camp Wawona, for their first foray into a world that's virtually disappeared from sight. For one night and a day they will get to experience a tiny piece of what Yosemite was like for the native peoples who thought of it as their three-season home for over 3,000 years. In the short time that the students are here, they will experience what it took to find shelter, food, clothing and warmth using only what nature provides.

Yesterday, my husband and I were at the camp to help the staff get ready for the group that's about to descend on them. Even after a lifetime spent hiking, camping, and backpacking (with the help of JanSport, North Face and REI), I was surprised to learn that nature provides absolutely everything needed to get the job done -- manmade materials need not apply.

But not all of our acorns were Valley Oak so we had to soak the flour in hot water (3-4 times) to leach out the bitter tannins. When the bitterness was gone, the mush was spread onto cookie sheets and baked into tasty crackers.

Now I get that modern conveniences are just what the words say, modern and convenient. Truth be told, we were only able to create enough acorn crackers to feed 40 people because we used modern inventions. Instead of leaving the acorns out in the sun to dry, we put them in large, industrial-size ovens overnight at 200 degrees. While the Miwok would have used stones to crack them open, we used hammers. After the kernels were removed, the Miwok would have put them on grinding stones and hit them with rocks until they created acorn flour. (That's what the kids will do). Having use of a kitchen, we put them in a nut grinder, then moved them to a blender to get the fine acorn powder needed for cooking. We didn't sit by a river for hours at a time leaching out the bitter tannins. Our method was to simply boil water on the stove and pour it over the flour time after time until the bitter taste disappeared. Then we spread the wet mush onto cookie sheets, placed them in the oven, and minutes later had nutty-tasting acorn crackers rich in protein and fat, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, and niacin. It was terrific fun but it wasn’t what produced my aha moment.

That came from the cumulative experience of the day. Because, while the acorn mush was baking, we also made a protein-rich tea from the tips of incense cedars leaves. Then we picked out the very best shells left from the acorns and put them aside to make poultices to kill the itch caused by poison oak and mosquito bites. After that we moved outside to learn how to make fire using a wooden bow and drill. With five people working together, it took about two minutes to create a hot coal that we placed in a nest of incense cedar shavings and bark. When we blew on it, it erupted into flame. It seemed so amazing to me that I asked to do it again and again.

With five people and a couple of minutes, we made a primitive friction fire with a bow and drill.

In one day, I learned that two trees -- oak and incense cedar -- can provide the majority of life's necessities. I can't wait to see the look on the kids' faces as they realize that just from the ground around their camp, they have everything they need to make hunting tools, build a shelter, make rope, start a fire, create food, even fashion a toothbrush.*

I came home from yesterday's training session entranced. I felt that for once, I was wowed, not by nature's power and beauty, but by its gentle, giving ways. The overnight at the Indian Camp is the kickoff for a year-long program that will start in the world of the indigenous people and end with an overnight at Wawona's Pioneer Village where this group of 5th through 8th graders will live as if the year were 1880 and Yosemite was just being "discovered" by all but the native peoples.

The umuucha was the typical shelter of Yosemite's Miwok Indians.

Several weekends ago a group of ten parents went through the park service training at the Pioneer Village so we would be ready to chaperon the kids when they come for their overnight this spring. I don't know the last time I learned so much or had so much fun ... until I trained for the Indian Camp. That Yosemite is special is something millions of people around the world know and acknowledge. That it came stocked with everything people and animals need to flourish without any outside help or inventions is something only the native people seemed to understand. I feel lucky to have experienced a modern interpretation of their way of life for even a nano-second. To live with respect, appreciation and gratitude for the natural world is the native peoples’ great teaching. With all the time I’ve spent in nature, I didn’t fully understand how beneficial and generous a gift that teaching was. Now I do.

*Nothing we use for the camp will be grown in Yosemite National Park. It’s all from private land.

-- Jamie Simons/Photos by Jon Jay

In May 2009, while hiking in Yosemite National Park, long-time Los Angeles resident Jamie Simons turned to her husband and said, "I want to live here." Jamie and her family have since lived in the park. Check out all of her blog articles by clicking here.

10/06/2011

Year in Yosemite: A Walk with Giants

The California Tunnel Tree. Tunnel was carved through the tree in 1895 as a way to promote the grove. Originally, it could accommodate a car. Since that time, the bark has been growing inward in an attempt to close its wound.

Things move slowly around here. On October 13, 2010 the Fossil Discovery Center of Madera County finally opened its doors. It took 17 years to plan and build. The museum celebrates the era when massive wooly mammoths, saber tooth cats and dire wolves roamed the region. Last Thursday, I joined two friends and spent the day wandering among the last living relics of that time.

Located just up the hill from our home in Yosemite National Park, the giant sequoias of the Mariposa Grove represent just a tiny slice of the massive forests of sequoias that scientists believe once stretched across this part of California. Their growth is even slower than that of the Fossil Discovery Center. Stretching up and out at a rate of just inches a year, it has taken some of these beauties almost 3,000 years to reach their present girth and height. It was worth the wait. As their heartfelt guardian Galen Clark wrote more than 100 years ago, "Here it seems one is standing in a great temple, silent, restful, with the air seemingly filled with eternal peace."

The Grizzly. The first branch on the right has grown vertically. Its diameter is larger than the trunk of any non sequoia in the grove.

Not everyone saw it that way. Just a couple of miles away, in an area now called the Nelder Grove, the Madera Flume and Trading Company tried logging these giants. The results were disastrous. The trunks were so massive that it took days and several men with massive saws to cut down a single tree. When the sequoia fell, the ground shook with the intensity of an earthquake, shattering the tree into thousands of pieces -- useful for making only shingles, pencils and matchsticks.

Before speculators like the Madera Flume and Trading Company bought the land, the native peoples of the Sierra Nevada had respected the sequoia groves as sacred ground. Galen Clark saw them that way too. Exploring the Mariposa Grove for the first time in 1857, he became fairly obsessed with saving it. The idea was radical and new. No one in the history of the world had ever set aside land simply to protect and preserve it for all people, for all time. Yet, just seven years after Clark first laid eyes on the Mariposa Grove, Abraham Lincoln signed a land grant protecting it and Yosemite Valley from development.

Trio of Sequoias on the right dwarf neighboring trees. All photos by Jon Jay.

Ever since, people have been debating exactly what that means. Where does the balance between preservation, public enjoyment, and taking care of visitors' needs lie? What is it that has value? Access or true wilderness?

Wandering through the sequoia groves on a warm autumn day, I did not think of any of this. Like Mr. Clark, I stood "filled with a sense of awe and veneration, as if treading on hallowed ground." But while I felt blessed to be walking among these ancient giants, the pragmatic side of me realized that, like the saber tooth cats and the wooly mammoth, the Madera Flume and Trading Company is extinct. Mariposa County (which encompasses a great deal of Yosemite National Park) has seen logging companies, gold rush prospectors, and cattle ranchers all move on. Without the park, it would be as bereft of funds as the counties that surround it. It is almost completely dependent for its economic survival on the tourists that Yosemite National Park attracts. Which begs the question, was Galen Clark an enlightened preservationist or an economic genius?

-- Jamie Simons

In May 2009, while hiking in Yosemite National Park, long-time Los Angeles resident Jamie Simons turned to her husband and said, "I want to live here." Jamie and her family have since lived in the park. Check out all of her blog articles by clicking here.

Public Site Visit for the Mariposa Grove Restoration Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)
Come join us on a site visit for the Mariposa Grove Restoration Project on Friday, October 14, 2011, from 9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The site visit will include a guided walk through the lower portion of the Mariposa Grove where park staff will discuss the project, the history of the Mariposa Grove, and ecology of giant sequoias. We encourage you to come and share your ideas about how to improve the overall visitor experience and protect resources in and around the grove. If you wish to attend this site visit, meet us in front of the Mariposa Grove Gift Shop and come prepared for hiking in fall weather conditions. Park entrance fees will be waived at the entrance stations for those attending the site walk.

On August 31, 2011, we began public scoping for preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the restoration of the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias and improvements to the nearby South Entrance Station. The project is consistent with goals outlined for these areas in the General Management Plan (NPS, 1980). The purpose of public scoping is to inform you about the proposed project and to help identify issues and concerns to consider during the development of site design alternatives for the EIS. The Mariposa Grove Restoration EIS will fulfill environmental analysis and public review requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Historic Preservation Act (Section 106). A draft EIS is anticipated for public review next summer.

We encourage you to submit comments about this project electronically through the National Park Service Planning, Environment, and Public Comment (PEPC) System at http://parkplanning.nps.gov/mariposagrove or comments may be mailed to: Superintendent, Yosemite National Park, Attn: Mariposa Grove Restoration EIS, PO Box 577, Yosemite, CA 95389. The formal scoping period will continue until 30 days after publication of the Notice of Intent to prepare an EIS in the Federal Register (forthcoming.) For more information on this project and the Mariposa Grove, visit our website: http://www.nps.gov/yose/parkmgmt/mgrove.htm.

October Open House Cancelled
In light of the upcoming Merced River Plan Fall Workshops, we are cancelling the regularly scheduled open house. Please consider joining us at one of the workshops listed below.

The last open house of 2011 is scheduled for November 30, 2011, from 1-4 pm.